


Witness Marks

by deepestbluest



Category: Tales of Berseria
Genre: Canon Compliant, Introspection, Kissing, M/M, Massage, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 13:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30089946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepestbluest/pseuds/deepestbluest
Summary: Rokurou is an odd daemon.
Relationships: Eizen/Rokurou Rangetsu
Kudos: 9





	Witness Marks

Rokurou digs his callused fingers into Eizen’s back, and Eizen sighs.

“That isn't the sound people usually make,” Rokurou says curiously from his perch above Eizen.

Over the course of the group’s journey, the two of them have developed an odd relationship. The arguments neither will shelve and promises of no holds barred battles should make the group uneasy, but no one gets concerned anymore. Even Eleanor and Laphicet don't bother warning them to behave.

Rokurou hasn't said it outright, but he's clearly having fun traveling with two harbingers of death. It isn't out of character- as he likes to remind the group, he's a yaksha. He should be so poisonous that Eizen feels sick. Even being near him should endanger Eizen and Laphicet; the boy in particular has no defenses against malevolence.

“Do you give a lot of back rubs?” Eizen asks.

“I used to. My father had scars that would pain him, and my mother put me in charge of helping him.” Rokurou presses his fingers into the muscles behind Eizen’s neck, and Eizen sighs a second time. “I've helped Eleanor a few times. She’s always tense.”

Eizen ignores the childish twinge in his gut. “Being stubborn will do that.”

“That explains why you're the same way."

Rokurou’s voice is warm with amusement. He's an odd daemon, more of a good-natured hedonist than a man who was corrupted by malevolence.

“I'm not that stubborn.”

“You're an earth malak who became a pirate despite being unable to swim. You’re going to become a dragon rather than talk to your little sister-”

“That's not it!”

“-and you're friends with me. Face it, Eizen. You're worse than Eleanor.”

Rokurou’s amusement has only grown, and Eizen hides his own smile in the crook of his arm. The bed is comfortable, Rokurou is good at this, and Eizen is more relaxed than he should be. He and Rokurou were drinking in the tavern earlier, Tabatha produced a snack sweet enough for Rokurou to enjoy, and Eizen is drifting off.

There's just one thing keeping him awake.

Rokurou shifts to reach Eizen’s shoulder, and Eizen bites his tongue at the feeling of Rokurou’s hands pushing him deeper into the mattress.

They shouldn't touch, but they do.

Malevolence is sickening. Being near enough of it feels like his lungs are failing. Rokurou may not give off as much malevolence as others, but he does give it off.

Rather than argue about stubbornness, Eizen asks, “Daemons can't sense malakhim, right?”

“It depends on what you mean by ‘sense’,” Rokurou says. He shifts again and pushes his thumbs into the muscles on either side of Eizen’s neck. “I can sense when someone is nearby, malakhim included, but if you're talking about things like the earthpulse and malevolence, then no. You might want to check with Velvet and Medissa, though."

“Not Kamoana? Is that because you have the awareness of a child?”

Rokurou’s laughter shakes through him, and Eizen lets his smile grow. He only met up with the group for the sake of getting through Vortigern, but the Lord of Calamity’s quest for vengeance brought him companions he'd never thought he could have. From the beginning, they've sighed and made fun of his curse. Magilou is more of a problem than he is.

One of those companions is Rokurou. A foolish part of Eizen wants to turn over and kiss him, but there's a foolish part of Rokurou that matches it. There have been moments when Eizen thought they would kiss. They stood too close, they looked at each other for too long, they felt the same rush of surviving another impossible fight.

Rokurou is the only person Eizen might not harm with a kiss. Eizen’s inevitable madness and death wouldn't crush him. It wouldn't even slow him down.

A daemon shouldn't touch a malak. Simply being near one is dangerous; their bodies are concentrated poison. Every moment their skin touches, Rokurou corrupts him.

The only person Eizen can want without guilt is the one he shouldn't touch- it’s poetic, though that would be lost on Rokurou.

“I know what I am and what I’m not,” Rokurou says as his laughter calms. “You guys can handle making plans. I’ll stick to making them happen."

Eizen hums, and Rokurou continues working the knots out of Eizen’s back.

There's no point in pretending that Eizen doesn't like Rokurou. If he really didn't, he wouldn’t be lying mostly naked on a bed in Reneed’s solitary inn with Rokurou a centimeter above sitting on him.

Rokurou isn’t wearing any more than Eizen is. If Laphicet were here, he'd object.

He'd object to them touching, too.

The kid still thinks he can save people. He isn't ready to understand that Eizen is happy because he made peace with his fate. Eizen can find happiness in Rokurou’s touch and find even more when he reaches back because he knows how this ends.

Laphicet understands that pain means he's alive; in time, he’ll learn that pain can be a good part of living.

“You're thinking about the kid, aren't you?”

Eizen hums. “He's come a long way.”

“He has, hasn't he?” Rokurou pushes his thumbs into a spot right where Eizen has been feeling tense and manages not to fall off as Eizen nearly twitches off the bed.

Eizen lifts one arm and swats at Rokurou’s head. “Ass.”

He sees his mistake too late.

Rokurou cheerfully grabs Eizen’s ass with one hand and declares, “I was going to let you be modest, but if you insist.”

Annoyed, Eizen tries to turn over so he can push Rokurou off and onto his own ass, but the thought disappears as he finds himself looking up at Rokurou.

Despite the pattern of malevolence on his skin and inhuman eye, it's easy to forget that Rokurou is a daemon. His tunnel vision is more human than daemonic; he doesn't carry grudges or grow more malevolent.

He doesn't hate the world. He doesn't even hate Shigure. He simply got so angry he stopped being human.

Although, Eizen has some questions about that.

“Well? Aren't you going to tell me not to get so comfortable around you?” Rokurou’s grin is wolfish. “You know, your curse hasn't done anything terrible to me yet.”

He's still kneeling over Eizen, hands on his hips and smugness pouring off him.

He really is odd.

A smart man would flinch from the Reaper. A good man would refuse to touch him.

Rokurou is neither smart nor good; he's selfish and impulsive. It shouldn't surprise Eizen when Rokurou leans down and kisses him.

It surprises him anyway.

Rokurou cradles Eizen’s face in his hands and kisses him hard, and all Eizen can think to do is hold Rokurou’s wrists.

This isn't Eizen’s first kiss, but it's been a long time since the last one.

Rokurou doesn't stop with one kiss. He barely pulls back to breathe between them, and Eizen leans up with him when he does.

“Greedy,” Rokurou mumbles.

“That’s your complaint?” Eizen asks between kisses. “You're courting disaster.”

“No, I'm courting  _ you.” _

Eizen squeezes Rokurou’s wrists so hard it must hurt, but Rokurou only lets his weight settle harder on top of Eizen.

“The disaster is a side perk.” Rokurou’s lips quirk, and his next kiss is softer. “I think Laphicet’s play date is coming to an end, though.”

Pushing Rokurou’s face away with one hand, Eizen concentrates on the other side of the wall their room shares with the girls’.

“Is it really okay to let him go back?” Eleanor asks. “Eizen and Rokurou aren't the best influences.”

“They're better than the woman with a skirt made of books,” Velvet drawls.

Magilou’s dramatic gasp must reach at least two rooms beyond Eizen and Rokurou. “Hey!”

The argument derails, and the girls don't seem to hear the door opening and closing.

Rokurou sits up with a sigh. “And things were just getting good.”

_ “Getting _ good?” Eizen frees one of his legs and shoves Rokurou off with his foot. “Don't let Laphicet catch you over here or he’ll get ideas.”

“Eleanor warned him about coming into the room without knocking.”

“She did that because you were changing in front of the door, not because Laphicet would be afraid of you turning me into a dragon.”

There's a soft knock on the door, and Rokurou’s mouth stretches into one of his wide grins. He doesn't lose the smile as he gets up and lets Laphicet inside.

“Got tired of the girls, huh?” he asks.

Laphicet ducks his head and scurries over to Eizen. There are two beds, and Rokurou is a daemon, which leaves Laphicet spending the night next to Eizen. It's fortunate that he's so small. Eizen barely fits on the bed; if he had to share with someone bigger, they'd never fit.

Eizen might be able to fit with Rokurou, but they wouldn't lie next to each other like Eizen and Laphicet do.

“Magilou wanted to braid my hair,” Laphicet tells them as he swaps his clothes from the Abbey for an old undershirt Eizen gave him early on. It's way too big for him, but he might have time to grow into it. “Even worse, Eleanor said it might be fun.”

Rokurou makes a sound of mock horror, and he quickly sets put to get a rise out of Laphicet.

“Calm down, you two,” Eizen says over Laphicet’s objections to Rokurou’s latest testing jab. “Laphicet, ignore him. He's just being a pain. And you-” He points at Rokurou “-stop talking like Bienfu. It's weird.”

Rokurou winces. “Bienfu? That's harsh.”

“It's nothing you didn't earn, and if you aren't careful, the girls will think you're serious. I'm not helping you if that happens.”

“I suppose it would be good training…”

Ignoring the trap, Eizen gestures for Laphicet to get into bed. “Bedtime.”

Unlike Edna, who spent years fighting with him to be allowed to stay awake “just a little while longer”, Laphicet obediently hops up and lays his head on the pillow he and Eizen have shared the last few nights.

Rokurou climbs into his bed without further argument, and Eizen blows out the light.

He closes his eyes and listens as Laphicet’s breathing deepens and Rokurou mumbles in his sleep, but it takes a long time for him to drift off. He can't forget the taste of sake on Rokurou’s tongue, and his skin is charged with more than malevolence where Rokurou touched his face.

Perhaps Eizen has been with humans for too long, but he can understand why they can’t make themselves pure enough to escape malevolence. A pure world like the one Artorius desires is cold. Who would want it when stolen kisses are so warm?

**Author's Note:**

> How do you tag the Laphicet who becomes Maotelus 😭


End file.
